This year’s Christmas at the California concert showcased a groundbreaking collaboration between the Arts, Academics, and Athletics at Valley Christian Schools. Troy Gunter, VP/Director of the Conservatory of Arts was accompanied on stage by Eric Scharrenberg, VP of Athletics and PE, and Danny Kim, VP of AMSE. Together they spoke about the power of A3 and how their programs supported each other to empower our students to compete in the XPRIZE Competition.

The XPRIZE Competition, sponsored by Shell, challenges teams to map the ocean floor, all while competing for $7 million in prize money. The students from AMSE's Ocean Quest Team are the only pre-college aged team still in the running.

Students from the Ocean Quest Team were invited to the concert stage and recognized for their tremendous efforts. Danny Kim pointed out that “Unlike the Conservatory that has a stage to perform on, when the XPRIZE judges signed off on the last requirement, a couple of the kids clapped and that was our encore.”

At the concert, the orchestra debuted the world premiere of an original score, written by VCHS alumni Yuma Sung (’07), which provided a rich backdrop for the XPRIZE video, highlighting the team’s journey from the beta tests in the VC swimming pool to the semi-finals in the Atlantic Ocean. The team is eager to hear if they are through to the finals, which will be announced in March 2018.